# Paralyzing spider bite? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677 "2002-12-24T04:22:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/1 "2002-12-24T04:22:01Z")
Tonight on Jeopardy there was a contestant who was paralyzed from the waste down. He said he was travelling in Peru as a photographer when a spider fell down his shirt and bit him and he woke up a week later in Los Angeles. He also mentioned something about a virus he got from the spider. My questions: What kind of spider was this? Is it aggresive? Is paralyzation a common side affect of this spider’s bite? Does this spider commonly carry whatever virus it transfered to the victim or was he just really unlucky? Was he particularly lucky to live or particularly unlucky to be paralyzed? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/2 "2002-12-24T06:50:19Z")
I have no idea what type of spider it was, and given the number of unidentified spiders in the world there’s a fair chance that no one does unless he caught it and kept it for identification. Since he’s been paralysed from the waist down it sounds like this person has been unfortunate enough to be bitten by a long fanged beastie that has actually penetrated one of the nerve bundles leaving the spine. There are quite a few spiders that produce nerve toxins, including the black widow, but it seems unlikely that the bite would cause total paralysis from the waist down unless the poison were injected almost directly into the spinal chord. The other possibility is that the virus caused the paralysis, rather like polio. Spiders quite often carry various bacteria and on their mouthparts and I guess that viruses would also be quite possible. Since the venom usually contains digestive enzymes the tissue around the bite often dies, providing an ideal entry site for viruses and other microbes picked up after the bite that were never found on the spider. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/3 "2002-12-24T07:01:55Z")
Don’t know if [THIS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=139880) is related, but…! Just because a spider or other insect is “non-poisonous” does not mean it is harmless. [I](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=119952) mean, like all creatures they can transmit all sorts of bad shit. I’m not sure what this guy got, but I’m inclined to believe his story! ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/4 "2002-12-24T08:10:15Z")
pk, at the risk of being a nitpicker (well, more than just a risk), but we are here to fight ignorance, venom is injected as in a bite. Poison is ingested, breathed, squirted or rubbed on. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/5 "2002-12-24T08:50:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by I am Sparticus \* > \*\*venom is injected as in a bite. Poison is ingested, breathed, squirted or rubbed on. \*\* Correct. But I put the term non-poisonous in quotation marks, so that those who are not as informed as _some_:rolleyes: of us got the general idea of what I was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/6 "2002-12-24T10:10:46Z")
Out of mild curiosity, how was the _Jeopardy_ set arranged to accomodate a paraplegic? Did he win, so I can see him on tonight’s show? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/7 "2002-12-24T11:40:00Z")
He was sitting in a directors-style chair. If they hadn’t made it a point to show the chair it would’ve looked like he was standing. And yes, he won. I was _really_ happy about this because he’s one of those rare contestants that goes for true daily doubles. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/8 "2002-12-24T13:14:51Z")
Hooray! Another creepy spider thread! There is a spider here in Brazil we call the Banana Spider, not to be confused with the yellow silk spider (which looks like a banana thus it too is called the banana spider) AKA the Brazilian wondering spider. [It is nasty.](http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/P-fera.html%5B/url) […more info](http://www.rochedalss.qld.edu.au/spider/wandering.htm%5B/url) According to a special I saw on nova, this has a strong neuro toxin that renders its victim paralyzed, heart stops, victim dies. If you get a good bite from one of these lil cuties the word is you have about 15 minutes to say your prayers. Could have been one of these if he were in the jungle. These things are like tarantulas, they don’t make a real web but hang out in the spaces between bananas on the tree, or in other holes like you might find in the side of a tree or on the ground. I killed one that was in a pipe that was part of a swing set. Sweet dreams. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/9 "2002-12-24T13:33:26Z")
Sorry, screwed up the links! [www.petbugs.com/caresheets/P-fera.htmlIt](http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/P-fera.htmlIt) is nasty. www.rochedalss.qld.edu.au/spider/wandering.htm more info ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/10 "2002-12-24T14:18:44Z")
IIRC, he said it was a common jungle spider. He said he contracted a virus from it. I had no idea he was sitting. I thought that the paralysis was temporary. I wonder what type of virus causes permanent paralysis. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralyzing-spider-bite/144677/11 "2002-12-24T14:48:36Z")
I found the whole conversation pretty bizarre. He and Alex were laughing as if it was a standard _Jeopardy_ “It says here you once got a ticket for driving too slowly” type of story.